Bargains and Balance

In no way do I own Teen Titans.

Chapter III

When Raven opened her eyes, she saw a wall. Well, a ceiling, but from her standpoint she could care less about what she was seeing. The only thing that mattered was getting to see her friends again.

Raven sat up from where she had been laid down which was on a small bed in the corner of a pure white room, with absolutely no windows whatsoever. There was strangely a dresser with a mirror and a door that led to what Raven found to be a bathroom.

At least it's a decent prison, she mused.

Another problem besides the obvious: she literally had no idea where she was. At all. The scary thing was, was that Raven was perfectly aware of the fact that she could have been sent to Russia or Greenland without her knowing. Plus, her communicator was gone. Not good at all. Plus, not only was location an issue, but there was one more teeny-weeny little detail.

She couldn't use her powers. If she tried to, it just made her twice as exhausted as she started out, and she wasn't necessarily firm on her feet quite yet. After about three tries of even the simplest things, Raven gave up and plopped down on the gray covered bed.

She glared at the large metal door, the only non white part of the wall, that had been locked from the outside. She knew that the door led to freedom in some way, shape or form, and she was already using her great intellect to figure out how to get out.

That is, until the door opened. The second she saw who it was, she wanted to smack him to the next dimension. "Slade," she snarled.

"Now, now. Is that a way to treat an old acquaintance? Do you like your room? It was built specifically for you," Slade commented as he entered the room. The doors slid shut behind him.

"What do you want?"

"Me? Why, young one, I require nothing from you. I am only making this place as comfortable as possible. While at the same time draining your powers to finish a small project of mine." Slade seemed very sure of himself, which wasn't very surprising to Raven.

"Where are we? Where are my friends? Why do you -"

"Tsk, tsk. Too many questions. All will be answered in due time. Until then, I'd like it if you stayed put. It would be tragic to have to end a life before it's been of its full use."

As always, Raven just wanted to get away from him. She may not have her powers, but she sensed that Slade was using her for something big. Something . . . demonic.

"You should've learned last time that a bargain made with him is never kept," Raven said as she decided to try and hit the nail on the head.

Slade merely nodded. "I have a way of getting my way this time. I have business to attend to. Stay safe." And with that he left.

Raven dropped onto her bed. "Ugh!"

Why wasn't Beast Boy here to comfort her like he always managed to do? She recalled the last few talks they had had.

You should smile more. Its . . . nice.

Its not that I don't watch you . . . its just . . .

You're a great friend.

I'm glad you're here.

Ravenput her hood over her head and decided to spend the time she had meditating. Specifically about how to deal with her current situation, and find out why her mind kept jumping back to the green changeling.

"Anything yet?"

"Not yet Beast Boy."

"Oh, okay. . . . . . . how about now?"

"Like I've told you every minute for the past hour: nothing yet!"

Beast Boy let his forehead fall until it connected with the kitchen island. He put his hands on the back of his head and started to repeatedly clench and release his hair.

The rest of the Titans, besides Raven, of course, were standing in front of the Titans map, trying to track Raven from the last place her communicator had been on before the small blip had popped out of existence.

Robin was absolutely furious with himself, with Slade, and pretty much the entire situation. Starfire was absolutely mortified when she discovered her friend had disappeared, and Cyborg had promptly stopped joking around.

The biggest toll the entire took was on Beast Boy. The poor changeling was absolutely crazy with worry, angst, anger, fear, and most of all confusion. The thing was, was that when Robin had been frozen by the Brotherhood of Evil, he hadn't panicked at all. He had been filled with a strong determination to finish what his leader had started.

When Cyborg had been in the H. I. V. E. Academy, Beast Boy had had plenty of faith in his best friend to an extent that exceeded any doubts or worries he had to begin with.

When Starfire had disappeared when she had gone through the Transformation, Beast Boy was worried, yes. But he was also at the same time comforted at the thought of Starfire being able to three trucks without trying and a reassurance that they'd find her eventually, which they did.

So why was he so concerned about his mysterious cloaked friend being gone so suddenly? Raven could handle herself just as good if not better than Starfire, was just as capable as Cyborg and smart enough not to do anything rash. So why was he so worried?

Beast Boy's thoughts were interrupted by Robin.

"Beast Boy, I think we have something."

Beast Boy turned into a sparrow and perched himself on the Boy Wonder's shoulder. Robin just glanced at him as he continued.

"We have investigated every possible direction she could've gone and how far she'd be away by now if she had continued at the speed her communicator was moving before it shut down. The thing is, she wasn't moving very fast. Everything says one thing: Raven's still in Jump."

There was a pause as the small, green sparrow hopped to the ground and turned into Beast Boy. "C'mon dudes, we gotta find her. I'll get the sewers."

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. "Cyborg, I want you to patrol the streets with the car. Starfire, I want eyes in the air. I'll be investigating by talking to the locals to see if they saw anything suspicious. Call if you need help. Meet back here in two hours. Titans, GO!"

Slade had meant what he had said, and that only made Raven angrier. The room was entirely comfortable and livable besides her lack of powers and the lack of genuine sunlight.

Besides two meals a day and the occasional visit from her captor, the whole thing was actually pretty . . . boring. All that Raven had to do was meditate, and believe it or not, she was tired of it.

She had, however met with her mind. Nevermore was not only accessible through her mirror. After all it was her brain. She could get there through intense meditation when she really tried and had the time for it.

Apparently her emotions all had good things to say about Beast Boy. Besides Timid. Timid had been too shy to say what she thought about him.

That only confused her more. Ever since she had been captive (Raven's internal clock said something around four days) when she let her thoughts wander, they always ended up on the green changeling. She was legitimately starting to scare herself.

She had caught herself thinking about his hair, his corny jokes, his fang when he smiled, his ears, his voice, him.

The only other thought that entered her mind was escape, and she had found out little about her cell. All she knew was that there was gas being leaked into her room on purpose and it was made from the same stuff that that stupid monster had been made from.

Raven had read many books, and honestly being kidnapped was not at all it was made out to be. She flopped onto the bed on her back and looked at the ceiling.

"Why can't being a damsel in distress be exciting?"

She just wished her knight in shining armor would get his butt over here and save her before she died of complete boredom.

She groaned. There she was thinking of him again. This was going to be a long week.

Sorry peeps. That chapter was a little shorter (I think) and full of mainly just character development. If anyone has any ideas about what should happen next I'm open to ideas, because honestly I only have this story planned so far before it all goes fuzzy.

The next chapter will be more enjoyable, I promise.

Until then, adios!

-Belgaria